[Macworld]

Post your comments for Spore springs to life here

[BigSexy135]

Spore looks like a great game and I was all pumped to buy it until I heard it had SecuRom. Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with companies trying to protect their hard work, but the DRM for spore is just, for lack of a better word, stupid. You can only install it up to 3 times. That means a maximum of 3 installations throughout the life of the game. This prevents to consumer from actually owning the game. I'm all for copy protection, but this is just wrong and will prevent me from buying the game.

[ab0si]

Yep, same here. I do not steal intellectual property however, I am not going buy software which so outrageously limits my ability to use it. I understand the publisher trying to protect its investment and maximize sales ... however, I am far from sure if the benefits outweigh the losses. I've seen several postings that the software is already cracked (some copies of Spore were released early in Oz and, apparently, cracked versions are already available on some pirate sites).


Oh, well, it looked like a great way to kill a bunch of time and avoid real work.

Paul

[rab777hp]

i went to the spore site and it said that spore was coming out september 7

[bsfa]

9 September is the day of an Apple event. Looks like there will be some competition for media attention.
Bert

[hayesk]

For all of your who aren't buying because of DRM, but yet you "understand the publisher trying to protect its investment", please suggest a workable alternative to protect their investment.
Is it true you can "install it up to 3 times" or is it that you can "install it up to 3 times before having to contact them"?

[BigSexy135]

you can only install it three times total. If you called and complained after the third time you could probably convince them but the truth is that the majority of consumers won't make the trouble to do that. They could at least have something on the box that says it can only be installed three times. Lame.

[ab0si]

I have no idea what, if anything, would be a better solution. Please note that I have no argument with the protection scheme being used .. I'm just not willing to deal with it. I don't strange and wondrous stuff written to my drives; I don't want to deal with having the program stop working because I changed the Pickled Kumquat in my 'puter.

Two basic reasons why I will not being Sporing:

I seldom play games at home. Usually, I play them when on the road (or in the air)... the idea of having a problem with the copy protection scheme when I'm I am in East Nowhere simply is a price I am not willing to pay.

I nuke and reinstall everything on my 'puters every 3 months or so. Maybe I don't need to do that with my Apples, but it's a habit I developed over the years (it certainly helps with Windows).

Again, I am not on a crusade here. If the owner of intellectual property wants to require me to stand on my head and sing the Stalin era version of the National Anthem of the USSR (in case you are wondering it begins: Long live the Soviet Motherland; built by the people's might hand.) while inserted Barry Manilow's complete works in my root directory (well, ok, the last I DO have a moral objection to) I think they have a perfect right to do so .... I have a perfect right to pass on the opportunity.

Paul

Paul

[Wizardling]

You do WHAT every three months? That's insane - even on Windows! What the hell is wrong with you? You must have serious time to burn, zero customisation, and use like three apps period.
As for the DRM - I won't care till I run up against it in which case I'll just use a crack - unless EA comes to their senses or this three install limit is less insane than it sounds.
Either way you guys are missing out on a truly stellar game IMHO :-)

[Wizardling]

Oh - and Spore was out on Friday here in New Zealand. I've been playing it for the past two days only stopping for sleep :-D As you might be able to tell - I'm a massive Sim fan!

[swartzfeger]

Paul, the reason you mentioned is why Spore is going to be a pain in the ss for me. My MacBook Pro is currently semi-hosed -- acting up/strange, etc. I run disk utility, and there are all sorts of little disk/file directory bugaboos running amok on my hard drive. I lost my original MBP system disk and* my Leopard disc (don't ask, I'm ADHD), so instead of buying a new Leopard disc, I'm just gonna wait until Snow Leopard/10.6 is released in a few months.
So I'm gonna install Spore tomorrow, but then in a few months do a total reformat of my drive. Then I'll have to re-install Spore, putting me at 2 installs. I'm also installing on my MP Tower tomorrow, so come December (or whenever 10.6 is released) I'll have zero installs left. Fine... until I have a hard drive failure or some other unforseen event that requires a re-install.

As a writer, I understand the need for copyright/DRM protection, but 3 installs is ridiculous. If Quark Xpress or CS3 did that, you'd run out of installs within a month... and these are programs that cost hundreds of dollars. This is a $50 game.

Oh well, GameTree should be sending my download link soon, I'll be installing the game in a few hours and I'll quit my bitching. :)

[Slannyfaced]

I have to agree. The quality and innovation of this game alone makes it worth the only 3 installs...

[swartzfeger]

well, after playing this game ALL DAY and sleeping about 2 hours and waking up to play again... I've gotta agree -- I never thought about the DRM once. ONCE. Great game.

[Omaha_Sternberg]

"For all of your who aren't buying because of DRM, but yet you "understand the publisher trying to protect its investment", please suggest a workable alternative to protect their investment."
That's not our job to do. That's EA's job. EA has provided a great game, along with what we, the consumer, consider a completely unworkable DRM solution. EA can decide to continue using this DRM solution, at which time they will learn whether those of us who have decided not to purchase the game are large enough to impact their bottom line or the publicity (or both). After that point, they will make their decision about whether to change the DRM.
Their other choice is to use the feedback they have gotten so far to estimate what kind of a financial impact on their revenue stream this DRM will be, and make appropriate changes therein.
But we are not responsible for suggesting anything to EA. This is their product, and their protection method. Our responsibility is to tell them how we feel about it.
And we are.